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I'm with the Graduate Employee Organization at UMass, part of UAW Local 2322. It's bargaining time again, and I decided to accept a nomination to serve on the bargaining committee.
We've got a wonderfully diverse committee, with some who have been here for five years, some who just set foot on campus, and teaching and research assistants from a wide array of departments in the sciences and humanities. There's even a representative from the MBA program. (A lack of interdepartmental solidarity is usually one of the major hurdles to having a strong academic union.)
I think things will go more smoothly this year than the last time around. As state employees, we're dependent on the machinery of state government to fund our contracts, but the state is in much better fiscal shape now than three years ago, and we have a much more cooperative, progressive legislature. Now, we just need to get a Democratic governor in November. Romney has been hell for the state employee unions.
It's not going to be easy. We're expecting the university to go after health coverage and offer raises far below inflation. But I think our side is up to it.
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